Paramotor pilots are not necessarily muppets?
Piltdown Man said "These flying duvet covers will splutter all around the edges and most probably burgle the new zone. Not intentionally, but through ignorance (no insult intended) and the practical difficulties of map reading out in the open."
I can appreciate the humour intended describing the craft but I do want to resist the notion that the pilots are ignorant of air law and find it difficult to map read. Of course there are a few in that category (it is our community's challenge to educate them) but the vast majority are responsible, intelligent people who are highly skilled at navigation and well versed in air law. Many are RTO and fly with at least a radio wtch and, where appropriate, a basic service. Many fly with local ATC cooperation through telephone call before and after transit or flying nearby. I have trained several commercial airline pilots in this form of aviation and many ex military pilots.
My objection to the report is that it paints paramotor pilots in a very bad light and promotes the view that we are, by and large, a bunch off muppets. This is simply wrong! It also alienates the very people who can help solve the problem.
The pilot in this case was described as "unwise" to have positioned himself at that location at that altitude. Yet the airliner had descended from 3000ft several miles further south on Northerly bearing. What the report is effectively saying is that he would have been unwise to fly anywhere in that class G space from 20 miles away from Southend because that is where the Southend ATC had decided their base leg would be.
I cannot see how it is necessary to have such a long base leg to Southend. Is it so impractical to fly west along the estuary and turn a short base north before final? An imposition of class D 11 miles south from the centre line would not impact sports flying in this area since most of that is over water where a paramotrist who values his life would never fly.
If an A319 is so unmaneuverable that it needs so much space to get into an airport it is unlikely to be able to make the necessary avoidance maneuver if it did see the conflict. My understanding is that they can turn on a sixpence?
On that subject what avoidance maneuver is recommended or simulated on encountering a paramotor? And, if indeed it has been briefed, what consideration is made for the likely effect on the paramotor wing? i.e. you might save the airliner at the cost of the paramotrist' life depending on what you choose to do. Would one recommendation from UKAB that this is researched be appropriate? Would making paramotors more passively radar visible help? e.g. aluminised fabric (space blanket) inserted within the wing void?
So many missed avenues to explore in this report.